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Spat escalates over secret legislative records in NM

SANTA FE — Staff attorneys and advisers to the New Mexico Legislature on Wednesday stood by their refusal to turn over documents to prosecutors in the criminal investigation of former state Sen. Phil Griego.

Spat escalates over secret legislative records in NM

Former New Mexico state Sen. Phil Griego, left, and his attorney Tom Clark, center, walk out of an arraignment in Santa Fe District Court in Santa Fe, N.M., Monday, April 4, 2016. The Democrat from San Jose was released pending trial after pleading not guilty to fraud and bribery charges stemming from his role in the sale of a state-owned building in Santa Fe.(Photo: Morgan Lee/The Associated Press)

SANTA FE — Staff attorneys and advisers to the New Mexico Legislature on Wednesday stood by their refusal to turn over documents to prosecutors in the criminal investigation of former state Sen. Phil Griego.

The Legislative Council Service said in a court filing that it is duty-bound to protect privileged communications between lawmakers, including Griego, and its aides and attorneys who help draft legislation.

The office of New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas alleges that Griego used his role as a senator to profit from the sale of a state owned building, and has subpoenaed background files on a legislative initiative that paved the way for the sale. Prosecutors also are seeking records from a Senate investigative subcommittee.

The investigation by the subcommittee ended with Griego's resignation in March 2015 after he signed an acknowledgement that he violated the state Constitution. Griego has pleaded not guilty to 10 criminal counts, including fraud, bribery and altering government documents.

Staff at the Legislature assert that withholding internal documents doesn't interfere with the prosecution of Griego, contradicting the attorney general's office. Griego has declined to provide permission for subpoenaed documents to be released.

"Senator Griego's statement and admissions have already been disclosed, and the Legislative Council Service seeks only to protect, consistent with its mandate, the confidentiality of the internal legislative requests and communications," the council service wrote.

The attorney general's office declined to comment on the filing because it pertains to a criminal investigation.

In its filings with Santa Fe District Court, the Legislative Council Service made public a log of 25 privileged documents withheld from prosecutors. They include the original ethics complaint against Griego by an unnamed person, along with correspondence with the Senate investigative subcommittee, a business that paid Griego a property-sale commission and a title company involved in the transaction.

The legislative agency invoked a speech-and-debate clause of the New Mexico Constitution designed to protect the independence and integrity of the legislative process. The attorney general's office says special free-speech protections concerning legislative matters do not prevent the subpoena of evidentiary documents, especially where allegations of bribery are concerned.

The scandal involving Griego and the property sale have stoked calls for ethics and campaign oversight reforms, as did the conviction last year of former New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran on felony fraud and money laundering convictions for using campaign donations to fuel a gambling addiction.

Efforts to create an independent state ethics commission were derailed by Senate Democrats in February over worries that it could become a forum for false accusations designed to inflict political damage.

At the time, Senate Ethics Committee members Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, and Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, described the handling of Griego's case by the Senate as proof that the Legislature can deal with ethics violations on its own.